Valencia, Nov 14 (IANS): Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) sprinkled some more magic to secure his second pole position of the year as the Italian set a 1:30.191 in a blisteringly epic MotoGP Q2 at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, beating Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) by 0.096 seconds.
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) is on the front row once more as the top three in the World Championship endure difficult qualifying sessions. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) will start P12, just behind 11th place Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) as Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) fails to make it out of Q2.
Soon after FP4 ended, light rain once again started to fall ahead of a monumentally huge Q1 for both Quartararo and Rins. As the green light lit up at the end of pit lane to signal the start of the session, the riders were packed together like a Grand National start.
The riders needed to get a lap time in while the Circuit Ricardo Tormo remained dry enough for a slick tyre lap time - and Rins was the guinea pig. The Suzuki man was leading the riders around the opening lap as the times shot in, and it was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Quartararo who topped Q1 after the first lap.
Top 10:
1. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) - 1:30.191
2. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) + 0.096
3. TakaakiNakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.222
4. Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) + 0.329
5. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.362
6. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.454
7. AleixEspargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 0.466
8. Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) + 0.480
9. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.546
10. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) + 0.590